Robideaux releases prioritized list of drainage projects

Lafayette Mayor-President Joel Robideaux on Feb. 8, 2018, released a list of prioritized drainage channel cleaning projects, ranked, to be achieved using a $9 million surplus transfer voters approved in November.
Claire Taylor

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Many of the coulees and drainage channels to be cleaned with a $9 million surplus are in the Youngsville area, where hundreds of homes flooded during heavy rainfall in August 2016.(Photo: SCOTT CLAUSE/THE ADVERTISER)Buy Photo

About half of the 24 coulee cleaning projects that will be funded with a $9 million one-time Lafayette Consolidated Government surplus are in the southern part of the parish, in or near the Youngsville area, where hundreds of homes flooded in August 2016.

Lafayette Mayor-President Joel Robideaux, in a press conference Thursday, released a list of 72 backlogged coulee-cleaning projects, scored and ranked.

It would take more than $31 million to work through the decades-old backlog caused in part by a lack of funding in the parish side of LCG.

The drainage projects on this list are strictly in Lafayette Parish and funded by LCG. The Acadiana Planning Commission has $25 million in FEMA money for drainage projects throughout Acadiana and has a list of its own, separate and apart from the LCG list Robideaux released Thursday.

The APC meets Feb. 14 to decide how the $25 million in regional funds will be spent.

LCG administrators scored the backlogged projects on several factors, including the number of addresses in the watershed, the percentage of the basin that's in a flood zone, the number of FEMA claims from the 2016 flood, the number of homes on the repetitive flood list, accessibility such as rights of way and easements, the need for permitting and whether pipelines and wetlands are involved.

Twenty-four projects fall into the top tier. Twelve of them are in or impact Council District 9 (William Theriot's district), which includes Youngsville and Milton. Each council district has projects on the A list, but that didn't factor into the rating system, Public Works Director Mark Dubroc said.

"We feel very comfortable with the list," said Nanette Cook, District 7 Council member, also speaking for District 8 Council member Liz Hebert. "Isaac Verot Coulee is a big channel that goes through our districts."

Seven projects for cleaning sections of Isaac Verot Coulee are in the A group. It helps to drain about one-quarter of the parish, including council districts 1, 5 and 6.

Coulee Ile des Cannes, a major drainage channel, is on the A list four times. LCG and other entities have provided funding to improve, clean and widen the channel and smaller channels that stem from it since the 1980s, Dubroc said.

The B group includes 24 projects covering 35 miles of drainage channels at a price tag of $10 million. The bottom tier includes 26 projects at a cost of about $11 million.

If LCG runs into problems with any project in Group A, such as permitting or obtaining rights to enter private property, Robideaux said LCG will move projects up from the B list. Ultimately, he said, LCG officials want to tackle the entire list.

Work won't start immediately, Dubroc said. LCG first has to prepare detailed plans and secure permits. Some of the work will be done by LCG. Some projects will be done by contractors.

It may take 9-12 months to get the projects underway, he said.

Robideaux said he expects by the end of 2018 some projects will be complete and many others underway.

The $9 million surplus was made possible by an innovative idea Robideaux had and voters backed.

In November, voters agreed to transfer $9 million of a $10 million surplus from a parish wide public health fund to drainage to clean coulees and drainage channels after hundreds of homes flooded in August 2016 and some have flooded again since then.

Voters also agreed to remove 1.1 mills the existing public health millage and re-dedicate it to drainage parish wide. It's expected to generate about $2.5 million a year.